Seminar on Measuring Simplicity in Mechanical Design

The DLM research group cordially invite you to attend the seminar "Measuring Simplicity in Mechanical Design", by Prof. Reuven Katz, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Date : Thursday, 26th July 2018.

Time : 3 to 5 PM.

Venue : Boardroom IDL Building , WMG, University of Warwick.

Abstract:

Mechanical designers strive to create a simple design that will reduce product’s cost and increase its reliability. Simple design means function sharing and elimination of redundant parts and as result reduction and prevention of waste. In this sense, simple design follows the ideas of sustainable design. This paper presents an experimental method for measuring the simplicity of a mechanical design. It also presents a quantitative metric for evaluating the simplicity of product design based on quantifiable design parameters. The simplicity metric was developed by using experts’ evaluations of functionally equivalent products. The dominant parameter for predicting an expert’s simplicity rating is the number of features required to fully define the examined computer-aided design (CAD) model. This parameter is highly correlated with two additional measured design parameters: number of parts and number of interfaces between parts.

Speaker:

Reuven Katz is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and of Education in Science and Technology at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. He is the director of the Center for Manufacturing Systems and Robotics and the director of the graduate program for Design and Manufacturing Management at the Technion. He received his BSc and MSc degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Technion, PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA degree from the University of Tel Aviv. He has held a number of positions in industry, for example, Director of a R&D Department, Rafael, Israel (1972-2000); as well as in industry-university research centers, e.g., Chief Engineer, NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Reconfigurable Machining Systems (RMS), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

RSVP:

alison dot solman at warwick dot ac dot uk

Prof. Reuven Katz

WMG, International Manufacturing Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom